Castro Goes Kiwi - Week 2 - Auckland

Posted by:

The Mighty Fellas

on

3/22/2012

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Having lived in Auckland for nearly 8 months, its been pretty astonishing how little I did up until including it on my itinerary. I say itinerary, but what I of course mean is Twitter feed. It almost feels like cheating that I spent almost the entire week in real beds instead of in the van. But let's ignore that. In terms of things to see and do around the Big little city (sic), more than anywhere else food suggestions have topped the list.

Unfortunately, many of these got passed up, as Sunday is not a time to see or do anything in Auckland, really. Kapiti cheese shop, Mexican, Mezze (where I've been before and really is good just off Queen street) were all shut on Sunday afternoon. I did, however, get to see the end of the Volvo Ocean race - interesting seeing the boats come in, but the 'village' as it were was basically a bit crap. Maybe that's because it starting raining, I don't know.

Anyway. From French patisseries (Phillipe's) to bars (Hard Luck) to cafes that serve a nice pint (Veronas), Auckland's got heaps of fun foody stuff to do. It's got heaps of actual Foody stuff to do, but inevitably it's a little out of my price range, hence the capital F. What is o-for-awesome about Auckland is that within an hours drive are some of the best and most dramatic beaches I've seen. Piha, Bethells, Muriwai - they are the things that make Auckland worth visiting.

That, and the people, of course. Once again, big thanks go out to the General Director of NZ Opera and his wife, who took me in and generally had a real laugh with (at?) me. I hope this theme continues along my trip.

Cheers to all who came up with suggestions - keep them coming for the rest of the month.
Next stop - Northland.